In the world of marketing, you can make something true, just by saying it is.

Newsies working on a slow day usually blare, “the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year,” except it isn’t. The Saturday before Christmas is. And getting up at 2:30 on Friday to go shopping isn’t normal.

News Cut admits it didn’t know there was a traditional start of the online holiday shopping season. And for good reason. a)It’s not the start of the online holiday shopping season and b) it’s not a tradition. It’s marketing.

Cyber Monday comes from shop.org, the association of online retailers. The group sent out a news release a few days before the 2005 date, which described the following Monday as “one of the biggest online shopping days of the year.” Except that it wasn’t, according to Business Week.

Based on data from comScore, a research firm, online shopping for the holidays begins in early November, and surges on Black Friday, when over $550 million in transactions occurred, and peaks around the second week of December.

About $700 million is expected to be raked in online today, mostly because online stores are joining the marketing plan. Still, if last year is any guide, today is not the busiest shopping day of the year. That will likely come next week.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts. He was senior editor of news in the ’90s, ran MPR’s political unit, created the MPR News regional website, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day laments that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.

NewsCut is a blog featuring observations about the news. It provides a forum for an online discussion and debate about events that might not typically make the front page. NewsCut posts are not news stories.